For the love of Board Games
As I said in a previous post, I love board games, and that got me thinking.
What is the intrinsic link that made me select, and keep playing these games? There must be a pattern, formula or at least some basic design principle to follow that will establish how a great game is created. I should probably do the same for computer games too.
Anyway, this is a rather long blog post as I've been writing it for several days, and I'm still crunching away to discover the game secrets and process my findings.
Ok, lets start with the classic and build from there.
Hero Quest, released in1989, designed by Stephen Baker, Art by Les Edwards, Published by Milton Bradley.
Hero Quest is Milton Bradley's approach to a Dungeons & Dragons-style adventure game. One player acts as the game master, revealing the maze-like dungeon piecemeal as the players wander. Up to four other players take on a character (wizard, elf, dwarf, or barbarian) and venture forth into dungeons on fantasy quests. Plastic miniatures and 3-D furniture make this game very approachable. Multiple Expansions were also released for this system.
Hero quest has a simple rule mechanic system which relies on a simple character sheet, treasure and item cards and custom dice for resolving conflict. Each quest comes with its own short story to create the adventure and individual board set up. Each hero has a strength and a weakness to allow players to find the character that suits them, but also restricts them from becoming too over powered.
The dice mechanic is brutal and can quickly change the game, a few bad rolls and your character is dead, or worse the team is completely destroyed by a lucky goblin. The simplified rules are enough to bring excitement to the game and the beautiful miniatures create the perfect experience for new players and old.
This game was made in cooperation with Games Workshop who designed the miniatures and helped in many of the production details including background world and art in the rule book and scenario book.
The following for this game is huge across the world, and there are several websites with new rules, campaigns, characters and magical items. It's pretty easy to add additional house rules to make the game even more enjoyable. Over the years we've added things like rage finishing moves, hired companions and camp sites to trade with merchants and buy mounts. We've even had the chaos sorcerers opening warp gates and doing cross-overs into Space crusade. Great fun.
Awards and Honors:
1991 Origins Awards Best Graphic Presentation of a Boardgame Winner
Game mechanic:
Special custom dice and grid layout for movement
Pros:
Simple yet fun gameplay
Envokes story and adventure
Fantastic miniatures
Great gateway into table top gaming
Cons:
No female characters
Lacks deeper characterisation
Dice combat is somewhat unrealistic, and the whole quest comes undone with the evil player making an unbelievable saving roll.
Most games will come down to dice rolls, this can either be great fun or the failure of a terrible game mechanic. By working out the probabilities of actions you get a clear idea if some thing is working, balanced and doesn't break the game. Bellow is the results for the three symbols when rolling:
Percentage Rolls:
Attack 1Dice 2Dice 3Dice 4Dice
1 50% 50% 38% 25%
2 0% 25% 38% 38%
3 0% 0% 13% 25%
4 0% 0% 0% 6%
Hero Shield 1Dice 2Dice 3Dice 4Dice
1 33% 44% 44% 40%
2 0% 11% 22% 30%
3 0% 0% 4% 10%
4 0% 0% 0% 1%
Monster Shield 1Dice 2Dice 3Dice 4Dice
1 17% 28% 35% 39%
2 0% 3% 7% 12%
3 0% 0% 0% 2%
4 0% 0% 0% 0%
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Mysterium, released in 2015, Designed by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko, Art by Igor Burlakov and Xavier Collette. Published by Asmodee, Bergsala Enigma, Esdevium and F2Z Digital Media Inc.
In the 1920s, Mr. MacDowell, a gifted astrologist, immediately detected a supernatural being upon entering his new house in Scotland. He gathered eminent mediums of his time for an extraordinary séance, and they have seven hours to contact the ghost and investigate any clues that it can provide to unlock an old mystery.
Unable to talk, the amnesic ghost communicates with the mediums through visions, which are represented in the game by illustrated cards. The mediums must decipher the images to help the ghost remember how he was murdered: Who did the crime? Where did it take place? Which weapon caused the death? The more the mediums cooperate and guess well, the easier it is to catch the right culprit.
In Mysterium, a reworking of the game system present in Tajemnicze Domostwo, one player takes the role of ghost while everyone else represents a medium. To solve the crime, the ghost must first recall (with the aid of the mediums) all of the suspects present on the night of the murder. A number of suspect, location and murder weapon cards are placed on the table, and the ghost randomly assigns one of each of these in secret to a medium.
Each hour (i.e., game turn), the ghost hands one or more vision cards face up to each medium, refilling their hand to seven each time they share vision cards. These vision cards present dreamlike images to the mediums, with each medium first needing to deduce which suspect corresponds to the vision cards received. Once the ghost has handed cards to the final medium, they start a two-minute sandtimer. Once a medium has placed their token on a suspect, they may also place clairvoyancy tokens on the guesses made by other mediums to show whether they agree or disagree with those guesses.
After time runs out, the ghost reveals to each medium whether the guesses were correct or not. Mediums who guessed correctly move on to guess the location of the crime (and then the murder weapon), while those who didn't keep their vision cards and receive new ones next hour corresponding to the same suspect. Once a medium has correctly guessed the suspect, location and weapon, they move their token to the epilogue board and receive one clairvoyancy point for each hour remaining on the clock. They can still use their remaining clairvoyancy tokens to score additional points.
If one or more mediums fail to identify their proper suspect, location and weapon before the end of the seventh hour, then the ghost has failed and dissipates, leaving the mystery unsolved. If, however, they have all succeeded, then the ghost has recovered enough of its memory to identify the culprit.
Mediums then group their suspect, location and weapon cards on the table and place a number by each group. The ghost then selects one group, places the matching culprit number face down on the epilogue board, picks three vision cards — one for the suspect, one for the location, and one for the weapon — then shuffles these cards. Players who have achieved few clairvoyancy points flip over one vision card at random, then secretly vote on which suspect they think is guilty; players with more points then flip over a second vision card and vote; then those with the most points see the final card and vote.
If a majority of the mediums have identified the proper suspect, with ties being broken by the vote of the most clairvoyant medium, then the killer has been identified and the ghost can now rest peacefully. Hopefully.
What I like about this game is that its a combination of two different games which reply on complimentary and then opposing structures. The first part has the ghost issuing out cards to players which is basically another game called 'Dixit'. This is a great way of working out who's on the same wave length as you. It's amazing how some people just instantly get what your trying to indicate with the simplest of things. Then the second part is where all the players are trying to compete and out bid each other with clairvoyance tokens. This is where players with strategy can play to their advantage and even though they may struggle with guessing the cards, they can still win the game.
The sand timer adds a dynamic tension to the group, as you try to guess and bid within the set time. I tend to like using some sort of timing device for games, it works very well for keeping the game flowing, stops players wasting time and builds player game awareness. It can bring stress and pressure to players especially at the end of games where the excitement is super high. I always like to build in a side 'house' rule allowing players to pause or freeze time for a cost.
Awards & Honors:
2016 As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année Winner
2016 As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année Nominee
2015 Tric Trac d'Argent Winner
2015 Jocul Anului în România Beginners Finalist
2015 Golden Geek Most Innovative Board Game Nominee
2015 Golden Geek Board Game of the Year Nominee
2015 Golden Geek Best Thematic Board Game Nominee
2015 Golden Geek Best Party Board Game Nominee
2015 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee
2015 Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork/Presentation Winner
2015 Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork/Presentation Nominee
Game Mechanic:
Guessing the correct card
Bidding on the best and worst players
Pros:
Great combination of two games
Lovely ambiguous cards
Different ways to win
Helps build relationships and understandings how other players think
Comes with its own soundtrack
Cons:
Can be hard going if you don't 'get' the people you're playing with
Characters don't have any special skills or abilities
Some times it's impossible to make any sort of connection with the images
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Descent Second Edition, released in 2012, Designed by Daniel Clark, Corey Konieczka, Adam Sadler and Kevin Wilson. Art by Alex Aparin, Devon Caddy-Lee, Sylvain Decaux and Tod Gelle. Published by Fantasy Flight Games.
Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) is a board game in which one player takes on the role of the evil overlord, and up to four other players take on the roles of courageous heroes. During each game, the heroes embark on quests and venture into dangerous caves, ancient ruins, dark dungeons, and cursed forests to battle monsters, earn riches, and attempt to stop the overlord from carrying out his wicket plot.
With danger lurking in every shadow, combat is a necessity. For such times, Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) uses a unique dice-based system. Players build their dice pools according to their character's abilities and weapons, and each die in the pool contributes to an attack in different ways. Surges, special symbols that appear on most dice, also let you trigger special effects to make the most of your attacks. And with the horrors awaiting you beneath the surface, you'll need every advantage you can take.
Featuring double-sided modular board pieces, countless hero and skill combinations, and an immersive story-driven campaign, Descent transports heroes to a vibrant fantasy realm where they must stand together against an ancient evil.
Descent, needless to say is the older and more mature brother of Hero quest. Standing on the shoulders of giants doesn't make you tall but it does help. Descent designers took everything great from RPGs and worked them into a fantastic adventure. The quality of figures is excellent and the interlocking board pieces give you hundreds of combinations.
Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, yet they also have special abilities and as you gain gold and experience points your characters keep getting better. The range of characters and items are huge, each character can also learn a disciple and build a skill tree. It does start to get more complicated, but it also means you spend more time with your characters and working out the perfect set up.
We recently set a player time restriction to one minute. This changed the game in a great way. Several things happened. The game play felt intense, you didn't have much time to plan, you could only react. It built a stronger connection with the players and characters because you need to know what skills you have when you're in a pinch. The game play was fluid and we finished in an hour. Maybe next time we'll try two minutes and see how that goes.
Monsters also level up and each quest is usually a mission based objective driven goal. This means that killing monsters might just be a diversion from the real task and not always the primary goal. But this is great, players who prefer healer roles and ranged weapons can usually focus on the task whilst players who enjoy combat can keep the monsters busy. A great way to balance the players and create and enjoyable experience with the heroes usually winning.
The rule book has a map and a quest tree guide, as players complete quests they move down different routes which allows player to experience different quests whilst replaying the same campaign.
Awards and Honors:
2012 Golden Geek Best Thematic Board Game Nominee
Game mechanic:
Each attack has different specific custom dice.
Interlocking board design
Pros:
Lovely detailed miniatures
Well balanced characters and quests
Simple foundation with deep characterization and upgrades
Deep world and character back stories
Lots of expansions
Cons:
Game time can get quite lengthy
Can be game breaking if players don't know all their character skills well enough.
Game quest goals aren't always clear in the rule book.
Finding all the correct board tiles from the rule book is time consuming.
Percentage Rolls Average based on Range:
Blue and Yellow Dice
Range 1 2 3 4 5 6
Damage 3 3 3 3 2 2
1 surge 70% 70% 60% 47% 33% 23%
Miss 17% 17% 25% 39% 56% 72%
Blue and Red Dice
Range 1 2 3 4 5 6
Damage 4 4 4 3 3 3
1 surge 50% 50% 30% 27% 23% 20%
Miss 17% 17% 33% 50% 67% 83%
Blue and 2 Red Dice
Range 1 2 3 4 5 6
Damage 6 6 6 6 5 5
1 surge 59% 59% 38% 32% 26% 20%
Miss 17% 17% 33% 50% 67% 83%
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Battlelore, released in 2013, Designer by Richard Borg and Robert A. Kouba. Art by Henning Ludvigsen and Published by Edge Entertainment, Fantasy Flight Games, Giochi Uniti and Heidelberger Spieleverlag
Prepare for fantasy battles beyond your wildest imagination with the onslaught of BattleLore Second Edition. Set in the fantasy realm of Terrinoth, BattleLore Second Edition is a two-player board game focused on squad-based battles between the hardy defenses of the Daqan Lords garrison in Nordgard Castle and the unleashed ferocity of the demon-worshipping Uthuk Y’llan. You must strategically command your troops and use the power of lore to tip your battles in your favor.
In every game, you will create new maps and scenarios, before mustering a new army for each game, so you can tailor your army to suit your favored play style. Command armies of fearsome warriors and deadly creatures, and lead them against the enemy in this intense game of warfare and military strategy. By seizing victory points from objectives on the battlefield and by eliminating enemy units, a skilled commander can raise his banners as the victor over the borderlands of Terrinoth!
BattleLore comes with a game board, ninety-two detailed figures, forty-three map overlay pieces, more than one-hundred fifty cards, rules, four custom dice, and everything else you need to win the borderlands of Terrinoth! A great game with two complete Armies in the box!
I used to really be into Games Workshop, my first job was working in one. Years of experience has taught me that this was one of my best job and one of my favorites. Ok, maybe my current job is a little bit more fun now.
Anyway, it was a real coming of age for me. Most of my school friends would be secretly drinking in the local park on a Friday night, in the dark, shivering yet pretending to have fun, whilst I would be a members only bar playing table top games and the odd bit of D&D or Vampire Masquerade. Honestly, the boys in my class thought I was the idiot for liking games. Little did they know.
In my early years I was really into Games Workshop, in a big way. My first job was even working in one. Years of experience has told me that this was probably one of my favorite jobs. It's rare to find a job you enjoy and cherish every day in the office.
Games workshop was a real coming of age for me. Whilst my other class mates would be sat in a dark park on a Friday night, drinking vodka straight, shivering whilst pretending they where having fun, I was at a friend house whose parent's where away for the weekend or at a local members only bar. Yes, I may have partaken in a few beverages but I was there mainly for the table top games, D&D and Vampire Masquerade.
On Monday morning to be laughed at, when they boasted about their weekend of drinking, I couldn't help but think if only they knew. But of course I said nothing. Members rules are like sacred oaths. (And most likely the owners would get arrested and the bar shut down)
But, I digress. Board games did more than stimulate my imagination, they also helped me create stories, create lasting friendships and build a resistance to alcohol.
And this game is no different. It instantly takes me back to that special place as the army commander, giving out orders to his troops and holding objectives. The command cards bring the perceived threat into a new direction every turn as your opponent doesn't quit get the right cards they need to launch their big attack. But it could happen next turn. It creates drama and tension as little skirmish battles lead into larger ones. The game mechanics are based around the same as 'Memoir '44', a World War 2 scenario based object game.
Awards & Honors
2014 International Gamers Award - General Strategy: Two-players Nominee
2013 Golden Geek Best 2-Player Board Game Nominee
Game Mechanic:
The armies move across hexagonal tiles to hold positions and fight
Orders are give through having the right cards
Custom dice for combat, defense and special abilities
Pros:
Two whole armies in the box
A huge board
Great miniature design
Three more complete armies in separate expansion packs
Easy to learn
Cons:
Can get a bit slow whilst both players are playing defensive orders
Some objects are far too easy to achieve
Some commands and lore cards are difficult to understand
Percentage rolls for the same result
Roll 1 Die 1/6 2 Dice 1/36 3 Dice 1/216 4 Dice 1/1294
Strike 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
Cleave 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
Pierce 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
Morale 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
Lore 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
heroic 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
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Eldritch Horror, released in 2013, Designed by Corey Konieczka and Nikki Valens, Art by Anders Finér, David Griffith, Ed Mattinian and Patrick McEvoy. Published by Fantasy Flight Games, Arclight, Delta Vision Publishing and Edge Entertainment
Across the globe, ancient evil is stirring. Now, you and your trusted circle of colleagues must travel around the world, working against all odds to hold back the approaching horror. Foul monsters, brutal encounters, and obscure mysteries will take you to your limit and beyond. All the while, you and your fellow investigators must unravel the otherworldy mysteries scattered around the globe in order to push back the gathering mayhem that threatens to overwhelm humanity. The end draws near! Do you have the courage to prevent global destruction?
Eldritch Horror is a cooperative game of terror and adventure in which one to eight players take the roles of globetrotting investigators working to solve mysteries, gather clues, and protect the world from an Ancient One – that is, an elder being intent on destroying our world. Each Ancient One comes with its own unique decks of Mystery and Research cards, which draw you deeper into the lore surrounding each loathsome creature. Discover the true name of Azathoth or battle Cthulhu on the high seas.
While the tasks on these Mystery cards (along with the locations of otherworldly gates, menacing monsters, and helpful clues) will often inform both your travel plans and the dangers you confront, you can find adventure anywhere in the world...even where you least expect it. It is during the Encounter Phase of each turn that players resolve combat or, alternatively, build their investigators' personal stories by reading an encounter narrative from one of several types of Encounter cards. You might go head to head with a monster in Istanbul or find yourself in a tough spot with the crime syndicate in a major city. Maybe you will embark on an expedition to the Pyramids or research a clue you uncover in the unnamed wilderness. You may even find your way through a gate and explore a dimension beyond time and space.
Should you fail an encounter, the cost is steep. If you are fortunate, you will merely incur physical or mental trauma. However, you might also be compelled to take a Condition card, which represents a specific injury or restriction gained throughout your journey, such as a Leg Injury or Amnesia. You could find yourself getting in over your head to acquire assets and receive a Debt condition – or maybe you'll owe a favor to something far more insidious than a debt collector, and enter into a Dark Pact! Whatever your condition, you would be wise to find a resolution with haste; many conditions have a "reckoning effect" which, if triggered, ensure a much more sinister fate.
All the while, the arrival of the Ancient One approaches. Its malign influence is manifested in Eldritch Horror as you draw Mythos Cards, which govern the appearance of otherworldly gates, fearsome monsters, and other ominous elements. Mythos cards keep your investigators under pressure, introducing new threats, even as the arrival of the Great Old One draws nearer! Since the investigators draw a new Mythos card each round, they're certain to have their hands full battling foul creatures and following up on strange rumors, even as they work to solve their three all-important mysteries.
Eldritch Horror has the potential to be a slow, boring journey around a map to face unknown enemies and possibly die at any point, in any number of horrible ways. Yet, somehow it's not, and leaves you wanting more even after your team failed to stop the end of the world and you all suffered a fate worse than death.
Eldritch horror makes all the characters work together, pooling resources to save the world but the game really rewards though who test their luck. A failed dice roll will result in death, but a pass could just save the world. And, maybe our universe
The game is often very heavy in Lovecraftian mythology and mostly works well in this game but it occasionally breaks when a politician with a shotgun manages to defeat Cthulhu. Even though it's incredibly difficult to do, it just makes the game feel silly in retrospect. However, this doesn't happen often and most of the time every dies. Horribly.
The game mechanic is good and I've seen it more in other games, a roll of a 5 or 6 equals a success. The skill level indicates how many dice you roll. You only usually need one success to pass. This mechanic is used for resolving all types of conflicts and challenges, and works very well.
The number of characters, items, old ones, unspeakable monsters and cards are a fantastic testimony to the richness of the source material, and how the game designers really wanted to include everything.
The doom track and astrological markers are a nice touch to keep the tension flowing and allow all players to see the approaching end of the world. Fantasy flight also used this in the Game of thrones board game with the threat of Wildling attack. It's a great mechanic to keep things building up and allows players the opportunity to muster enough armies and set aside enough consolidation tokens for the war beyond the wall.
Awards and Honors
2013 Golden Geek Best Thematic Board Game Nominee
2013 Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork/Presentation Nominee
Game mechanic:
Dice pass score for 5+ and attribute tests for everything
Pros:
Simple game play
Rich deep mythology and story
Lots of customization and item cards
It really does feel like it's an impossible game to win.
Cons:
Can be really slow whilst you wait for everyone to take their turns.
Chances of winning are really low
Two expansion which increases the game time to anything from 2-6 hours, which really is madness.
Bad combat system
Percentage rolls:
1 Success 1Dice 2Dice 3Dice 4Dice 5Dice 6Dice
Normal 33% 56% 70% 80% 87% 91%
Blessed 75% 75% 88% 94% 97% 98%
Cursed 31% 31% 42% 52% 60% 67%
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Game of Thrones, released in 2011, Designed by Christian T. Petersen, Art by Tomasz Jedruszek and Henning Ludvigsen. Published by Fantasy Flight Games, ADC Blackfire Entertainment, cutia.ro and Delta Vision Publishing.
King Robert Baratheon is dead, and the lands of Westeros brace for battle.
In the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Board Game, three to six players take on the roles of the great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, as they vie for control of the Iron Throne through the use of diplomacy and warfare. Based on the best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones is an epic board game in which it will take more than military might to win. Will you take power through force, use honeyed words to coerce your way onto the throne, or rally the townsfolk to your side? Through strategic planning, masterful diplomacy, and clever card play, spread your influence over Westeros!
To begin the game, each player receives an army of Footman, Knight, Siege Engine, and Ship units, as well as a set of Order tokens and other necessary components. Each player also receives a deck of unique House Cards, which are used as leaders in battles against rival Houses.
Each round in the game is made up of three phases: the Westeros Phase, the Planning Phase, and the Action Phase. The Westeros Phase represents special events and day-to-day activities in Westeros. There are three different Westeros Decks, and each denotes a different global action, potentially affecting all players.
The Planning Phase is perhaps the most important. Here you secretly assign orders to all of your units by placing one order token face down on each area you control that contains at least one unit (Knight, Footman, Ship, or Siege Engine). This portion of the game emphasizes diplomacy and deduction. Can you trust the alliance that you made? Will you betray your ally and march upon him? Players may make promises to each other (for aid or peace, for example), but these promises are never binding. The result is tense and compelling negotiations, often ending in backstabbing worthy of Westeros!
During the Action Phase, the orders are resolved and battle is entered! When armies meet in combat, they secretly choose one of their House cards to add strength to the battle. Finally, the Houses can consolidate their power in the areas they control and use that power in future turns to influence their position in the court of the Iron Throne and to stand against the wildling Hordes.
In addition to featuring updated graphics and a clarified ruleset, this second edition of A Game of Thrones includes elements from the A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords expansions, including ports, garrisons, Wildling cards, and Siege engines, while introducing welcome new innovations like player screens and Tides of Battle cards.
Tides of Battle cards are an optional mechanism that brings an element of unpredictability to combat, representing erratic shifts in the momentum of war due to factors such as weather, morale, and tactical opportunity. During each combat, both players draw one Tides of Battle card from a communal deck, and its value modifies the strength of his chosen House card. What's more, such a card may also contain icons that can affect the outcome of the battle...all of which delivers a new level of intensity to your military engagements.
I'll be honest, when I first played this I was excited but it was really really slow going. The rules seemed complicated and there are some many things happening its hard to know where to focus. But this is the point. The game captures the art of political influence and resource building perfectly. Fighting armies and capturing castles may win the game, but you wont last long if you cant fend off the wildlings or keep your supplies. The limited number of order tokens means you have to think about where to attack and defend, often doing the opposite to what other players expect you to do. Bidding all your tokens on the influence tracks feels great as the rewards can help you crush the enemy but will leave you wide open from attacks beyond the Wall. These happen often, and usually as the worst of times, not contributing enough can reduce your armies significantly. But of course, if you play it safe, you're not playing game of thrones. To be the one true king you need to be bold, daring and wise.
After a few games, you'll get it. Things will start to speed up and you'll know when to risk it and when to consolidate. I'm not sure if 'Twilight Imperium' is similar (I really need to get that game) but this template would be great. I cant help but think that Fantasy Flight should do a 'Dune' game based on this. It would fit perfectly.
I like how all the tracks are connected and keep players balanced, yet at the same time having to choose where they want to invest. No player can be the highest at everything and often, over stretching for too long will be your demise.
This is a long game which requires patience and investment. It's not a pick up and play midweek affair. This will be several hours and once players know how it works, it maybe even longer.
Awards and Honors:
2013 Ludoteca Ideale Official Selection Winner
2011 Charles S. Roberts Best Science-Fiction or Fantasy Board Wargame Nominee
Game Mechanic:
Supply Track
Wilding Track
Castle Track
Influence Track
Limited Order tokens
strategy army combat with Character House Cards
Pros:Depth and complexity
Fantastic board and cards
Multiple ways of winning
Cons:
Will take several games to get the hang of it
Takes 3-6 hours
Playing pieces are a bit boring, miniatures would have been much better
A few bottlenecks which are designed to cause unnecessary conflict
What is the intrinsic link that made me select, and keep playing these games? There must be a pattern, formula or at least some basic design principle to follow that will establish how a great game is created. I should probably do the same for computer games too.
Anyway, this is a rather long blog post as I've been writing it for several days, and I'm still crunching away to discover the game secrets and process my findings.
Ok, lets start with the classic and build from there.
Hero Quest, released in1989, designed by Stephen Baker, Art by Les Edwards, Published by Milton Bradley.
Hero Quest is Milton Bradley's approach to a Dungeons & Dragons-style adventure game. One player acts as the game master, revealing the maze-like dungeon piecemeal as the players wander. Up to four other players take on a character (wizard, elf, dwarf, or barbarian) and venture forth into dungeons on fantasy quests. Plastic miniatures and 3-D furniture make this game very approachable. Multiple Expansions were also released for this system.
Hero quest has a simple rule mechanic system which relies on a simple character sheet, treasure and item cards and custom dice for resolving conflict. Each quest comes with its own short story to create the adventure and individual board set up. Each hero has a strength and a weakness to allow players to find the character that suits them, but also restricts them from becoming too over powered.
The dice mechanic is brutal and can quickly change the game, a few bad rolls and your character is dead, or worse the team is completely destroyed by a lucky goblin. The simplified rules are enough to bring excitement to the game and the beautiful miniatures create the perfect experience for new players and old.
This game was made in cooperation with Games Workshop who designed the miniatures and helped in many of the production details including background world and art in the rule book and scenario book.
The following for this game is huge across the world, and there are several websites with new rules, campaigns, characters and magical items. It's pretty easy to add additional house rules to make the game even more enjoyable. Over the years we've added things like rage finishing moves, hired companions and camp sites to trade with merchants and buy mounts. We've even had the chaos sorcerers opening warp gates and doing cross-overs into Space crusade. Great fun.
Awards and Honors:
1991 Origins Awards Best Graphic Presentation of a Boardgame Winner
Game mechanic:
Special custom dice and grid layout for movement
Pros:
Simple yet fun gameplay
Envokes story and adventure
Fantastic miniatures
Great gateway into table top gaming
Cons:
No female characters
Lacks deeper characterisation
Dice combat is somewhat unrealistic, and the whole quest comes undone with the evil player making an unbelievable saving roll.
Most games will come down to dice rolls, this can either be great fun or the failure of a terrible game mechanic. By working out the probabilities of actions you get a clear idea if some thing is working, balanced and doesn't break the game. Bellow is the results for the three symbols when rolling:
Percentage Rolls:
Attack 1Dice 2Dice 3Dice 4Dice
1 50% 50% 38% 25%
2 0% 25% 38% 38%
3 0% 0% 13% 25%
4 0% 0% 0% 6%
Hero Shield 1Dice 2Dice 3Dice 4Dice
1 33% 44% 44% 40%
2 0% 11% 22% 30%
3 0% 0% 4% 10%
4 0% 0% 0% 1%
Monster Shield 1Dice 2Dice 3Dice 4Dice
1 17% 28% 35% 39%
2 0% 3% 7% 12%
3 0% 0% 0% 2%
4 0% 0% 0% 0%
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Mysterium, released in 2015, Designed by Oleksandr Nevskiy and Oleg Sidorenko, Art by Igor Burlakov and Xavier Collette. Published by Asmodee, Bergsala Enigma, Esdevium and F2Z Digital Media Inc.
In the 1920s, Mr. MacDowell, a gifted astrologist, immediately detected a supernatural being upon entering his new house in Scotland. He gathered eminent mediums of his time for an extraordinary séance, and they have seven hours to contact the ghost and investigate any clues that it can provide to unlock an old mystery.
Unable to talk, the amnesic ghost communicates with the mediums through visions, which are represented in the game by illustrated cards. The mediums must decipher the images to help the ghost remember how he was murdered: Who did the crime? Where did it take place? Which weapon caused the death? The more the mediums cooperate and guess well, the easier it is to catch the right culprit.
In Mysterium, a reworking of the game system present in Tajemnicze Domostwo, one player takes the role of ghost while everyone else represents a medium. To solve the crime, the ghost must first recall (with the aid of the mediums) all of the suspects present on the night of the murder. A number of suspect, location and murder weapon cards are placed on the table, and the ghost randomly assigns one of each of these in secret to a medium.
Each hour (i.e., game turn), the ghost hands one or more vision cards face up to each medium, refilling their hand to seven each time they share vision cards. These vision cards present dreamlike images to the mediums, with each medium first needing to deduce which suspect corresponds to the vision cards received. Once the ghost has handed cards to the final medium, they start a two-minute sandtimer. Once a medium has placed their token on a suspect, they may also place clairvoyancy tokens on the guesses made by other mediums to show whether they agree or disagree with those guesses.
After time runs out, the ghost reveals to each medium whether the guesses were correct or not. Mediums who guessed correctly move on to guess the location of the crime (and then the murder weapon), while those who didn't keep their vision cards and receive new ones next hour corresponding to the same suspect. Once a medium has correctly guessed the suspect, location and weapon, they move their token to the epilogue board and receive one clairvoyancy point for each hour remaining on the clock. They can still use their remaining clairvoyancy tokens to score additional points.
If one or more mediums fail to identify their proper suspect, location and weapon before the end of the seventh hour, then the ghost has failed and dissipates, leaving the mystery unsolved. If, however, they have all succeeded, then the ghost has recovered enough of its memory to identify the culprit.
Mediums then group their suspect, location and weapon cards on the table and place a number by each group. The ghost then selects one group, places the matching culprit number face down on the epilogue board, picks three vision cards — one for the suspect, one for the location, and one for the weapon — then shuffles these cards. Players who have achieved few clairvoyancy points flip over one vision card at random, then secretly vote on which suspect they think is guilty; players with more points then flip over a second vision card and vote; then those with the most points see the final card and vote.
If a majority of the mediums have identified the proper suspect, with ties being broken by the vote of the most clairvoyant medium, then the killer has been identified and the ghost can now rest peacefully. Hopefully.
What I like about this game is that its a combination of two different games which reply on complimentary and then opposing structures. The first part has the ghost issuing out cards to players which is basically another game called 'Dixit'. This is a great way of working out who's on the same wave length as you. It's amazing how some people just instantly get what your trying to indicate with the simplest of things. Then the second part is where all the players are trying to compete and out bid each other with clairvoyance tokens. This is where players with strategy can play to their advantage and even though they may struggle with guessing the cards, they can still win the game.
The sand timer adds a dynamic tension to the group, as you try to guess and bid within the set time. I tend to like using some sort of timing device for games, it works very well for keeping the game flowing, stops players wasting time and builds player game awareness. It can bring stress and pressure to players especially at the end of games where the excitement is super high. I always like to build in a side 'house' rule allowing players to pause or freeze time for a cost.
Awards & Honors:
2016 As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année Winner
2016 As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année Nominee
2015 Tric Trac d'Argent Winner
2015 Jocul Anului în România Beginners Finalist
2015 Golden Geek Most Innovative Board Game Nominee
2015 Golden Geek Board Game of the Year Nominee
2015 Golden Geek Best Thematic Board Game Nominee
2015 Golden Geek Best Party Board Game Nominee
2015 Golden Geek Best Family Board Game Nominee
2015 Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork/Presentation Winner
2015 Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork/Presentation Nominee
Game Mechanic:
Guessing the correct card
Bidding on the best and worst players
Pros:
Great combination of two games
Lovely ambiguous cards
Different ways to win
Helps build relationships and understandings how other players think
Comes with its own soundtrack
Cons:
Can be hard going if you don't 'get' the people you're playing with
Characters don't have any special skills or abilities
Some times it's impossible to make any sort of connection with the images
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Descent Second Edition, released in 2012, Designed by Daniel Clark, Corey Konieczka, Adam Sadler and Kevin Wilson. Art by Alex Aparin, Devon Caddy-Lee, Sylvain Decaux and Tod Gelle. Published by Fantasy Flight Games.
Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) is a board game in which one player takes on the role of the evil overlord, and up to four other players take on the roles of courageous heroes. During each game, the heroes embark on quests and venture into dangerous caves, ancient ruins, dark dungeons, and cursed forests to battle monsters, earn riches, and attempt to stop the overlord from carrying out his wicket plot.
With danger lurking in every shadow, combat is a necessity. For such times, Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) uses a unique dice-based system. Players build their dice pools according to their character's abilities and weapons, and each die in the pool contributes to an attack in different ways. Surges, special symbols that appear on most dice, also let you trigger special effects to make the most of your attacks. And with the horrors awaiting you beneath the surface, you'll need every advantage you can take.
Featuring double-sided modular board pieces, countless hero and skill combinations, and an immersive story-driven campaign, Descent transports heroes to a vibrant fantasy realm where they must stand together against an ancient evil.
Descent, needless to say is the older and more mature brother of Hero quest. Standing on the shoulders of giants doesn't make you tall but it does help. Descent designers took everything great from RPGs and worked them into a fantastic adventure. The quality of figures is excellent and the interlocking board pieces give you hundreds of combinations.
Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses, yet they also have special abilities and as you gain gold and experience points your characters keep getting better. The range of characters and items are huge, each character can also learn a disciple and build a skill tree. It does start to get more complicated, but it also means you spend more time with your characters and working out the perfect set up.
We recently set a player time restriction to one minute. This changed the game in a great way. Several things happened. The game play felt intense, you didn't have much time to plan, you could only react. It built a stronger connection with the players and characters because you need to know what skills you have when you're in a pinch. The game play was fluid and we finished in an hour. Maybe next time we'll try two minutes and see how that goes.
Monsters also level up and each quest is usually a mission based objective driven goal. This means that killing monsters might just be a diversion from the real task and not always the primary goal. But this is great, players who prefer healer roles and ranged weapons can usually focus on the task whilst players who enjoy combat can keep the monsters busy. A great way to balance the players and create and enjoyable experience with the heroes usually winning.
The rule book has a map and a quest tree guide, as players complete quests they move down different routes which allows player to experience different quests whilst replaying the same campaign.
Awards and Honors:
2012 Golden Geek Best Thematic Board Game Nominee
Game mechanic:
Each attack has different specific custom dice.
Interlocking board design
Pros:
Lovely detailed miniatures
Well balanced characters and quests
Simple foundation with deep characterization and upgrades
Deep world and character back stories
Lots of expansions
Cons:
Game time can get quite lengthy
Can be game breaking if players don't know all their character skills well enough.
Game quest goals aren't always clear in the rule book.
Finding all the correct board tiles from the rule book is time consuming.
Percentage Rolls Average based on Range:
Blue and Yellow Dice
Range 1 2 3 4 5 6
Damage 3 3 3 3 2 2
1 surge 70% 70% 60% 47% 33% 23%
Miss 17% 17% 25% 39% 56% 72%
Blue and Red Dice
Range 1 2 3 4 5 6
Damage 4 4 4 3 3 3
1 surge 50% 50% 30% 27% 23% 20%
Miss 17% 17% 33% 50% 67% 83%
Blue and 2 Red Dice
Range 1 2 3 4 5 6
Damage 6 6 6 6 5 5
1 surge 59% 59% 38% 32% 26% 20%
Miss 17% 17% 33% 50% 67% 83%
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Battlelore, released in 2013, Designer by Richard Borg and Robert A. Kouba. Art by Henning Ludvigsen and Published by Edge Entertainment, Fantasy Flight Games, Giochi Uniti and Heidelberger Spieleverlag
Prepare for fantasy battles beyond your wildest imagination with the onslaught of BattleLore Second Edition. Set in the fantasy realm of Terrinoth, BattleLore Second Edition is a two-player board game focused on squad-based battles between the hardy defenses of the Daqan Lords garrison in Nordgard Castle and the unleashed ferocity of the demon-worshipping Uthuk Y’llan. You must strategically command your troops and use the power of lore to tip your battles in your favor.
In every game, you will create new maps and scenarios, before mustering a new army for each game, so you can tailor your army to suit your favored play style. Command armies of fearsome warriors and deadly creatures, and lead them against the enemy in this intense game of warfare and military strategy. By seizing victory points from objectives on the battlefield and by eliminating enemy units, a skilled commander can raise his banners as the victor over the borderlands of Terrinoth!
BattleLore comes with a game board, ninety-two detailed figures, forty-three map overlay pieces, more than one-hundred fifty cards, rules, four custom dice, and everything else you need to win the borderlands of Terrinoth! A great game with two complete Armies in the box!
I used to really be into Games Workshop, my first job was working in one. Years of experience has taught me that this was one of my best job and one of my favorites. Ok, maybe my current job is a little bit more fun now.
Anyway, it was a real coming of age for me. Most of my school friends would be secretly drinking in the local park on a Friday night, in the dark, shivering yet pretending to have fun, whilst I would be a members only bar playing table top games and the odd bit of D&D or Vampire Masquerade. Honestly, the boys in my class thought I was the idiot for liking games. Little did they know.
In my early years I was really into Games Workshop, in a big way. My first job was even working in one. Years of experience has told me that this was probably one of my favorite jobs. It's rare to find a job you enjoy and cherish every day in the office.
Games workshop was a real coming of age for me. Whilst my other class mates would be sat in a dark park on a Friday night, drinking vodka straight, shivering whilst pretending they where having fun, I was at a friend house whose parent's where away for the weekend or at a local members only bar. Yes, I may have partaken in a few beverages but I was there mainly for the table top games, D&D and Vampire Masquerade.
On Monday morning to be laughed at, when they boasted about their weekend of drinking, I couldn't help but think if only they knew. But of course I said nothing. Members rules are like sacred oaths. (And most likely the owners would get arrested and the bar shut down)
But, I digress. Board games did more than stimulate my imagination, they also helped me create stories, create lasting friendships and build a resistance to alcohol.
And this game is no different. It instantly takes me back to that special place as the army commander, giving out orders to his troops and holding objectives. The command cards bring the perceived threat into a new direction every turn as your opponent doesn't quit get the right cards they need to launch their big attack. But it could happen next turn. It creates drama and tension as little skirmish battles lead into larger ones. The game mechanics are based around the same as 'Memoir '44', a World War 2 scenario based object game.
Awards & Honors
2014 International Gamers Award - General Strategy: Two-players Nominee
2013 Golden Geek Best 2-Player Board Game Nominee
Game Mechanic:
The armies move across hexagonal tiles to hold positions and fight
Orders are give through having the right cards
Custom dice for combat, defense and special abilities
Pros:
Two whole armies in the box
A huge board
Great miniature design
Three more complete armies in separate expansion packs
Easy to learn
Cons:
Can get a bit slow whilst both players are playing defensive orders
Some objects are far too easy to achieve
Some commands and lore cards are difficult to understand
Percentage rolls for the same result
Roll 1 Die 1/6 2 Dice 1/36 3 Dice 1/216 4 Dice 1/1294
Strike 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
Cleave 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
Pierce 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
Morale 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
Lore 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
heroic 16.6% 2.77% 0.46% 0.07%
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Eldritch Horror, released in 2013, Designed by Corey Konieczka and Nikki Valens, Art by Anders Finér, David Griffith, Ed Mattinian and Patrick McEvoy. Published by Fantasy Flight Games, Arclight, Delta Vision Publishing and Edge Entertainment
Across the globe, ancient evil is stirring. Now, you and your trusted circle of colleagues must travel around the world, working against all odds to hold back the approaching horror. Foul monsters, brutal encounters, and obscure mysteries will take you to your limit and beyond. All the while, you and your fellow investigators must unravel the otherworldy mysteries scattered around the globe in order to push back the gathering mayhem that threatens to overwhelm humanity. The end draws near! Do you have the courage to prevent global destruction?
Eldritch Horror is a cooperative game of terror and adventure in which one to eight players take the roles of globetrotting investigators working to solve mysteries, gather clues, and protect the world from an Ancient One – that is, an elder being intent on destroying our world. Each Ancient One comes with its own unique decks of Mystery and Research cards, which draw you deeper into the lore surrounding each loathsome creature. Discover the true name of Azathoth or battle Cthulhu on the high seas.
While the tasks on these Mystery cards (along with the locations of otherworldly gates, menacing monsters, and helpful clues) will often inform both your travel plans and the dangers you confront, you can find adventure anywhere in the world...even where you least expect it. It is during the Encounter Phase of each turn that players resolve combat or, alternatively, build their investigators' personal stories by reading an encounter narrative from one of several types of Encounter cards. You might go head to head with a monster in Istanbul or find yourself in a tough spot with the crime syndicate in a major city. Maybe you will embark on an expedition to the Pyramids or research a clue you uncover in the unnamed wilderness. You may even find your way through a gate and explore a dimension beyond time and space.
Should you fail an encounter, the cost is steep. If you are fortunate, you will merely incur physical or mental trauma. However, you might also be compelled to take a Condition card, which represents a specific injury or restriction gained throughout your journey, such as a Leg Injury or Amnesia. You could find yourself getting in over your head to acquire assets and receive a Debt condition – or maybe you'll owe a favor to something far more insidious than a debt collector, and enter into a Dark Pact! Whatever your condition, you would be wise to find a resolution with haste; many conditions have a "reckoning effect" which, if triggered, ensure a much more sinister fate.
All the while, the arrival of the Ancient One approaches. Its malign influence is manifested in Eldritch Horror as you draw Mythos Cards, which govern the appearance of otherworldly gates, fearsome monsters, and other ominous elements. Mythos cards keep your investigators under pressure, introducing new threats, even as the arrival of the Great Old One draws nearer! Since the investigators draw a new Mythos card each round, they're certain to have their hands full battling foul creatures and following up on strange rumors, even as they work to solve their three all-important mysteries.
Eldritch Horror has the potential to be a slow, boring journey around a map to face unknown enemies and possibly die at any point, in any number of horrible ways. Yet, somehow it's not, and leaves you wanting more even after your team failed to stop the end of the world and you all suffered a fate worse than death.
Eldritch horror makes all the characters work together, pooling resources to save the world but the game really rewards though who test their luck. A failed dice roll will result in death, but a pass could just save the world. And, maybe our universe
The game is often very heavy in Lovecraftian mythology and mostly works well in this game but it occasionally breaks when a politician with a shotgun manages to defeat Cthulhu. Even though it's incredibly difficult to do, it just makes the game feel silly in retrospect. However, this doesn't happen often and most of the time every dies. Horribly.
The game mechanic is good and I've seen it more in other games, a roll of a 5 or 6 equals a success. The skill level indicates how many dice you roll. You only usually need one success to pass. This mechanic is used for resolving all types of conflicts and challenges, and works very well.
The number of characters, items, old ones, unspeakable monsters and cards are a fantastic testimony to the richness of the source material, and how the game designers really wanted to include everything.
The doom track and astrological markers are a nice touch to keep the tension flowing and allow all players to see the approaching end of the world. Fantasy flight also used this in the Game of thrones board game with the threat of Wildling attack. It's a great mechanic to keep things building up and allows players the opportunity to muster enough armies and set aside enough consolidation tokens for the war beyond the wall.
Awards and Honors
2013 Golden Geek Best Thematic Board Game Nominee
2013 Golden Geek Best Board Game Artwork/Presentation Nominee
Game mechanic:
Dice pass score for 5+ and attribute tests for everything
Pros:
Simple game play
Rich deep mythology and story
Lots of customization and item cards
It really does feel like it's an impossible game to win.
Cons:
Can be really slow whilst you wait for everyone to take their turns.
Chances of winning are really low
Two expansion which increases the game time to anything from 2-6 hours, which really is madness.
Bad combat system
Percentage rolls:
1 Success 1Dice 2Dice 3Dice 4Dice 5Dice 6Dice
Normal 33% 56% 70% 80% 87% 91%
Blessed 75% 75% 88% 94% 97% 98%
Cursed 31% 31% 42% 52% 60% 67%
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Game of Thrones, released in 2011, Designed by Christian T. Petersen, Art by Tomasz Jedruszek and Henning Ludvigsen. Published by Fantasy Flight Games, ADC Blackfire Entertainment, cutia.ro and Delta Vision Publishing.
King Robert Baratheon is dead, and the lands of Westeros brace for battle.
In the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Board Game, three to six players take on the roles of the great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, as they vie for control of the Iron Throne through the use of diplomacy and warfare. Based on the best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones is an epic board game in which it will take more than military might to win. Will you take power through force, use honeyed words to coerce your way onto the throne, or rally the townsfolk to your side? Through strategic planning, masterful diplomacy, and clever card play, spread your influence over Westeros!
To begin the game, each player receives an army of Footman, Knight, Siege Engine, and Ship units, as well as a set of Order tokens and other necessary components. Each player also receives a deck of unique House Cards, which are used as leaders in battles against rival Houses.
Each round in the game is made up of three phases: the Westeros Phase, the Planning Phase, and the Action Phase. The Westeros Phase represents special events and day-to-day activities in Westeros. There are three different Westeros Decks, and each denotes a different global action, potentially affecting all players.
The Planning Phase is perhaps the most important. Here you secretly assign orders to all of your units by placing one order token face down on each area you control that contains at least one unit (Knight, Footman, Ship, or Siege Engine). This portion of the game emphasizes diplomacy and deduction. Can you trust the alliance that you made? Will you betray your ally and march upon him? Players may make promises to each other (for aid or peace, for example), but these promises are never binding. The result is tense and compelling negotiations, often ending in backstabbing worthy of Westeros!
During the Action Phase, the orders are resolved and battle is entered! When armies meet in combat, they secretly choose one of their House cards to add strength to the battle. Finally, the Houses can consolidate their power in the areas they control and use that power in future turns to influence their position in the court of the Iron Throne and to stand against the wildling Hordes.
In addition to featuring updated graphics and a clarified ruleset, this second edition of A Game of Thrones includes elements from the A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords expansions, including ports, garrisons, Wildling cards, and Siege engines, while introducing welcome new innovations like player screens and Tides of Battle cards.
Tides of Battle cards are an optional mechanism that brings an element of unpredictability to combat, representing erratic shifts in the momentum of war due to factors such as weather, morale, and tactical opportunity. During each combat, both players draw one Tides of Battle card from a communal deck, and its value modifies the strength of his chosen House card. What's more, such a card may also contain icons that can affect the outcome of the battle...all of which delivers a new level of intensity to your military engagements.
I'll be honest, when I first played this I was excited but it was really really slow going. The rules seemed complicated and there are some many things happening its hard to know where to focus. But this is the point. The game captures the art of political influence and resource building perfectly. Fighting armies and capturing castles may win the game, but you wont last long if you cant fend off the wildlings or keep your supplies. The limited number of order tokens means you have to think about where to attack and defend, often doing the opposite to what other players expect you to do. Bidding all your tokens on the influence tracks feels great as the rewards can help you crush the enemy but will leave you wide open from attacks beyond the Wall. These happen often, and usually as the worst of times, not contributing enough can reduce your armies significantly. But of course, if you play it safe, you're not playing game of thrones. To be the one true king you need to be bold, daring and wise.
After a few games, you'll get it. Things will start to speed up and you'll know when to risk it and when to consolidate. I'm not sure if 'Twilight Imperium' is similar (I really need to get that game) but this template would be great. I cant help but think that Fantasy Flight should do a 'Dune' game based on this. It would fit perfectly.
I like how all the tracks are connected and keep players balanced, yet at the same time having to choose where they want to invest. No player can be the highest at everything and often, over stretching for too long will be your demise.
This is a long game which requires patience and investment. It's not a pick up and play midweek affair. This will be several hours and once players know how it works, it maybe even longer.
Awards and Honors:
2013 Ludoteca Ideale Official Selection Winner
2011 Charles S. Roberts Best Science-Fiction or Fantasy Board Wargame Nominee
Game Mechanic:
Supply Track
Wilding Track
Castle Track
Influence Track
Limited Order tokens
strategy army combat with Character House Cards
Pros:Depth and complexity
Fantastic board and cards
Multiple ways of winning
Cons:
Will take several games to get the hang of it
Takes 3-6 hours
Playing pieces are a bit boring, miniatures would have been much better
A few bottlenecks which are designed to cause unnecessary conflict
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Machi Koro, released in 2012, Designer by Masao Suganuma, Art by Noboru Hotta, Ian Parovel and Mirko Suzuki. Published by Foxgames (Poland), GoKids 玩樂小子 Grounding, and Happy Baobab.
Welcome to the city of Machi Koro. You've just been elected Mayor. Congrats! Unfortunately the citizens have some pretty big demands: jobs, a theme park, a couple of cheese factories and maybe even a radio tower. A tough proposition since the city currently consists of a wheat field, a bakery and a pair of dice.
Armed only with your trusty die and a dream, you must grow Machi Koro into the largest city in the region. You will need to collect income from developments, build public works, and steal from your neighbors' coffers. Just make sure they aren't doing the same to you!
Machi Koro is a fast-paced game for 2-4 players. Each player wants to develop the city on his own terms in order to complete all of the landmarks under construction faster than his rivals. On his turn, each player rolls one or two dice. If the sum of the dice rolled matches the number of a building that a player owns, he gets the effect of that building; in some cases opponents will also benefit from your die (just as you can benefit from theirs). Then, with money in hand a player can build a landmark or a new building, ideally adding to the wealth of his city on future turns. The first player to construct all of his landmarks win
Awards & Honors:
2015 Spiel des Jahres Nominee
2015 Boardgames Australia Best International Game Nominee
2015 As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année Nominee
2014 Lys Grand Public Finalist
2013 Meeples' Choice Nominee
Game Mechanic:
Each player can gain resource on another players turn
Pros:
Simple game mechanics with a deeper strategy level for experienced players
Short and quick matches for all level of players
Great artwork
Great concept which could be applied to many different intellectual properties.
Cons:
The two expansion packs bring more rules which will extend the game life but also makes it not as much fun to play.
Once you've worked out which cards give you the best return on resources, it becomes a race to see who can buy them first and the tips the balance of the game.
Percentage rolls:
Roll 1 Die 2 Dice
1 1/6 16.6% 0
2 1/6 16.6% 1/36 2.77%
3 1/6 16.6% 2/36 5.55%
4 1/6 16.6% 3/36 8.33%
5 1/6 16.6% 4/36 11.11%
6 1/6 16.6% 5/36 13.88%
7 0 6/36 16.66 %
8 0 5/36 13.88%
9 0 4/36 11.11%
10 0 3/36 8.33%
11 0 2/36 5.55%
12 0 1/36 2.77%
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Summary
Wow, that was a big post. I think I could probably do another 5 or 6 games in the future though. I'm keen to play Twilight Imperium, Dust, Star wars Rebellion, Inis, AVP and Scythe. I recently also backed Rising Sun on kickstarter which looks epic. So many games. Board games are finally coming back and they are awesome!
So it seems, a great game must have several elements:
Not hard at all then!
Machi Koro, released in 2012, Designer by Masao Suganuma, Art by Noboru Hotta, Ian Parovel and Mirko Suzuki. Published by Foxgames (Poland), GoKids 玩樂小子 Grounding, and Happy Baobab.
Welcome to the city of Machi Koro. You've just been elected Mayor. Congrats! Unfortunately the citizens have some pretty big demands: jobs, a theme park, a couple of cheese factories and maybe even a radio tower. A tough proposition since the city currently consists of a wheat field, a bakery and a pair of dice.
Armed only with your trusty die and a dream, you must grow Machi Koro into the largest city in the region. You will need to collect income from developments, build public works, and steal from your neighbors' coffers. Just make sure they aren't doing the same to you!
Machi Koro is a fast-paced game for 2-4 players. Each player wants to develop the city on his own terms in order to complete all of the landmarks under construction faster than his rivals. On his turn, each player rolls one or two dice. If the sum of the dice rolled matches the number of a building that a player owns, he gets the effect of that building; in some cases opponents will also benefit from your die (just as you can benefit from theirs). Then, with money in hand a player can build a landmark or a new building, ideally adding to the wealth of his city on future turns. The first player to construct all of his landmarks win
Awards & Honors:
2015 Spiel des Jahres Nominee
2015 Boardgames Australia Best International Game Nominee
2015 As d'Or - Jeu de l'Année Nominee
2014 Lys Grand Public Finalist
2013 Meeples' Choice Nominee
Game Mechanic:
Each player can gain resource on another players turn
Pros:
Simple game mechanics with a deeper strategy level for experienced players
Short and quick matches for all level of players
Great artwork
Great concept which could be applied to many different intellectual properties.
Cons:
The two expansion packs bring more rules which will extend the game life but also makes it not as much fun to play.
Once you've worked out which cards give you the best return on resources, it becomes a race to see who can buy them first and the tips the balance of the game.
Percentage rolls:
Roll 1 Die 2 Dice
1 1/6 16.6% 0
2 1/6 16.6% 1/36 2.77%
3 1/6 16.6% 2/36 5.55%
4 1/6 16.6% 3/36 8.33%
5 1/6 16.6% 4/36 11.11%
6 1/6 16.6% 5/36 13.88%
7 0 6/36 16.66 %
8 0 5/36 13.88%
9 0 4/36 11.11%
10 0 3/36 8.33%
11 0 2/36 5.55%
12 0 1/36 2.77%
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Summary
Wow, that was a big post. I think I could probably do another 5 or 6 games in the future though. I'm keen to play Twilight Imperium, Dust, Star wars Rebellion, Inis, AVP and Scythe. I recently also backed Rising Sun on kickstarter which looks epic. So many games. Board games are finally coming back and they are awesome!
So it seems, a great game must have several elements:
- A great game mechanic which fits the theme
- Great artwork and miniatures
- Simple rules
- Deep strategy
- Multiple ways of winning
- Character customisation
- Custom dice
- A unique way of keeping the players balanced whilst fighting themselves or working together to overcome the main antagonist.
Not hard at all then!
